We need to start again from sustainable mobility — for the environment and for our lungs. The European Environment Agency reiterates this once more in its latest report. Air pollution makes people ill and kills them, and action must be taken immediately, with effective measures. Italy is one of the countries paying the heaviest price in terms of human lives, with more than 76,000 deaths a year. These losses are on top of those caused by coronavirus, which has so far claimed more than 36,000 lives. While it is true that the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic saved 15,000 people across 12 cities around the world, it remains undeniable that in Italy, with the resumption of activities and transport, emissions of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particulate matter (PM) quickly climbed back and returned to pre-Covid levels.

Life Prepair study in the Po Valley: air pollution back to pre-Covid levels

These are the figures from the latest update of the European study Life Prepair, which monitors air quality in the Po basin. According to measurements by the environmental agencies of Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trento, after the 40 per cent collapse in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions during the lockdown — thanks to the halt of cars and lorries — pollutant concentrations have now risen again across Italy. Air pollution is back to where it was before, while European targets require NOx emissions to be reduced by around 40 per cent. As a result, Italy is still burdened by two infringement proceedings on air quality, dating back to 2015 and 2014 respectively, relating precisely to the exceeding of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10) limits.

SNPA @SNPAmbiente

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Pianura Padana e inquinamento durante il #lockdown. Nuove analisi del progetto #prepAIR forniscono i dati su #PM10 e ossidi di azoto nei primi 5 mesi del 2020.

bit.ly/3iejNI7

♥ 9 30 set 2020 · Apri su X →

Sergio Costa: "Fighting smog at the centre of political action"

Pollution entails costs for public health and for the state's economy. Policies capable of tackling and managing the problem are therefore urgently needed. But what is actually being done? We asked Sergio Costa, the environment minister, who outlined for LifeGate the steps taken over the past year. "Last year in Turin, one of the cities at the centre of the smog emergency, we signed, in the presence of the European Commission, the Clean air dialogue — a commitment under which both central government and regional and local authorities pledge to place the fight to improve air quality at the centre of political action," the minister explains.

Ministero Ambiente e Sicurezza Energetica @MASE_IT

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Clean Air Dialogue, il 4 giugno a #Torino la firma del protocollo "Aria pulita". #Cad2019 #RespiriamoPulito #AriaPulita
minambiente.it/comunicati/cle…

♥ 10 30 mag 2019 · Apri su X →

A paradigm shift is needed to incentivise sustainable mobility

That process gave rise to, Costa specifies, the initiatives included in the budget law and the Decreto Clima. "That plan, signed in June 2019, includes a series of actions that affect not only road traffic but also, for example, domestic heating." But, as the data from the Life Prepair project itself shows, "mobility is one of the main areas where we need to intervene in order to be truly effective." To that end, the environment minister confirms, "we have placed a strong emphasis on a technological paradigm shift to incentivise electric cars and the installation of charging points." With the August decree-law, the government allocated 400 million for the automotive sector and, according to Ansa, the figure could double in the next budget manoeuvre.

The problem, however, remains the uptake of concrete action by local authorities. The drawing up and implementation of air quality plans are, in fact, the responsibility of the regions, as is everything relating to environmental management, which — like healthcare — is a matter of shared competence between the state and the regions. "I have concluded stringent agreements with some of them, such as with the Lazio region for the metropolitan area of Rome, the Valle del Sacco, Umbria for Terni, Tuscany and Sicily for the cities subject to European infringement proceedings, and an agreement with Campania is in preparation."

Action by the most polluted regions is still too weak

The situation remains, by contrast, dramatic in the Po Valley regions which, despite being among the most polluted areas in Italy and Europe, are lagging behind on the containment measures that are now necessary, starting with the ban on the most polluting vehicles. Piedmont Region announced in August the suspension of the ban on Euro 4 diesel vehicles, which was subsequently withdrawn. The vehicles will in any case be allowed to circulate until 31 December 2020.

But, as Minister Costa states, "on top of all this, Covid-19 has arrived and the landscape has changed completely, because we have more tools and funds with which to act. The studies currently being assessed, which demonstrate a link between areas with higher concentrations of fine particulate matter and smog and the spread of contagion, are being followed very closely by the ministry's technical department and, if anything, give us an even greater sense of urgency about political action."

To reduce NOx and PM concentrations, action must be taken in the transport sector

In the Po basin, in the same areas of the country hit by coronavirus — Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna — greater boldness is needed. Researchers and environmental technicians working on the Life Prepair project have put it in writing. To reduce NOx concentrations at the very least, it is necessary to "act on the transport sector by significantly reducing traffic flows and promoting more sustainable modes of travel such as cycling, electric mobility and micro-mobility," the experts state.

"While on the one hand the actions envisaged by the agreement signed in Turin need to be revised, on the other hand the recovery fund presents us with a unique and unrepeatable opportunity: to intervene with massive resources to overhaul the fleet of private cars and public transport vehicles, for example, to improve the energy efficiency of buildings with the 110 per cent ecobonus, and to draw up urban greening plans to make cities resilient against pollution," Minister Costa emphasises. "Just in the past few weeks, the implementing decree for urban reforestation — provided for under the Legge clima — was finalised, and it is now being examined by the Unified Conference of the Regions."

SNPA @SNPAmbiente

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❌ Guerra allo smog in Pianura padana. Scattano da oggi #1ottobre nel Bacino padano le limitazioni alla circolazione per la stagione invernale.

Ecco le regole di @regionepiemonte, @RegLombardia, @RegioneVeneto e @RegioneER, da ottobre 2020 a marzo 2021.
👉bit.ly/34d5i2d

♥ 8 1 ott 2020 · Apri su X →

Cars: hybrid propulsion is the most pragmatic solution in the transition

Now, while waiting for the regions to adopt more incisive measures to improve air quality, the ball is back in citizens' court at a time of severe recession — a factor that also affects the choices of car manufacturers, who must adapt swiftly to changed economic, environmental and social needs. Some have done so earlier than others, such as the Toyota Group, one of the first manufacturers to make a commitment to environmental protection and sustainable mobility, which in the current state of emergency reaffirms that hybrid-propulsion vehicles (combining an electric motor and a petrol engine) are the most immediate and economically accessible solution for tackling air pollution.

"The direction is certainly that of the progressive electrification of propulsion systems and the continuous evolution of Full Hybrid Electric technology, which remains the most pragmatic, immediately available and economically accessible choice, with tangible benefits and no compromises in terms of performance. These are the elements that have led us today to have more than 15 million hybrid vehicles worldwide, and more than 300,000 in Italy," Andrea Saccone, Head of External Relations at Toyota Motor Italia, told LifeGate.

Full Hybrid Electric: NOx emissions more than 90 per cent below legal limits

As has also emerged from various scientific studies on energy efficiency carried out in collaboration with Enea, Full Hybrid technology is capable of delivering very low levels of CO2 and NOx emissions. The latter are more than 90 per cent below the statutory homologation limits. These figures mean that at least 50 per cent of mileage covered in this type of car is achieved with zero emissions. Looking to the future — partially halted by the pandemic — beyond the new Yaris in its hybrid version, the Japanese manufacturer has announced the launch of several fully electric car models onto the market. In the meantime, it has introduced new incentives for citizens who wish to make a sustainable mobility choice to combat air pollution by purchasing hybrid vehicles. And in its ongoing projects, as the International Energy Agency (IEA) has long been urging, it is also betting on hydrogen propulsion to "push further the production of renewable energy and therefore the decarbonisation of energy sources".

IEA Hydrogen TCP

New mobility could put a stop to deaths from air pollution

Mobility — di Rosy Battaglia

Smog, fine particulate matter and NOx have returned to pre-Covid levels. Environment minister Sergio Costa explains what to do about air pollution.